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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29192256">Time</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackdresses13/pseuds/Blackdresses13'>Blackdresses13</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - High School, Blood, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Swearing</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 03:48:05</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,217</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29192256</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blackdresses13/pseuds/Blackdresses13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Cloud gets hurt and Squall helps bandage him up. High School AU.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cloud/Leon (Kingdom Hearts), Leon (Kingdom Hearts)/Squall Leonhart/Cloud Strife</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>20</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Time</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Reference to injuries but no explicit details. A little bit of blood mentioned. Mentioning bruises at the beginning and later at the end. Very brief description of child abuse.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>He looks bad; the left side of his neck is sporting a burgundy bruise, and half an inch above his left eyebrow there’s a small red scratch, puffy from the cold weather. He makes a beeline for his desk, sliding in next to Squall and dropping his brown, dingy backpack on the classroom floor. Squall spies Selphie and Rinoa looking over in moderate judgment, whispering something unintelligible and misinformed. Cloud ignores everyone, even Squall, putting his head down and tucking his arms around his spiky hair.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The beginning of class isn’t the right time to bring the topic up so Squall waits.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cloud keeps his head down through all of Homeroom and stays curled in on himself during Physics, too. Squall sends him a text; well, he sent three:</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Need anything?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>If Luxord says anything I’ll scowl at him. He’s been scared of me since last year.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m here whenever you’re ready.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>At 8:43 the bell rang, and Zell, in his haste, trips over the leg of Cloud’s desk and nearly falls into him, jostling Cloud who lets out a soft whimper that Squall almost misses. Cloud doesn’t say anything after Zell’s quick and sincere apology, but he watches him leave the room with everyone else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall stands up and stretches, mimicking his older brother’s dramatics, and lifts his faded gray backpack up from off the floor. He looks over at Cloud, giving him a quick head to toe scan. He again catalogs the scratch above his eye and the neck bruise. Cloud is sporting a slightly too big blue long sleeve tee that curls over his fingers, most likely hiding scrapes on his knuckles. Squall figures there are small bruises on his legs, too, considering the small red patch he’d spotted below the cuff of Cloud’s right pant leg during class.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you two leaving or what?” Luxord calls from the front of the classroom. “I have a meeting in five minutes, and you both have somewhere to be in four.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cloud slouches further into his seat before pushing himself up, the fabric of his shirt shifting over his left arm and revealing red spots dotting the inside of the fabric.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Oh.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall doesn’t make it obvious, though. He walks towards the door, listening to Cloud shuffle along behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“And Mr. Strife,” Luxord throws, “try not to get so fucked up tomorrow. This is a school, not a local bar.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>Squall’s right side is perpendicular to the wall, so he doesn’t have to deliberately hide the fist forming in his palm. Cloud stops in the doorway, frozen solid.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ll keep that in mind,” he says, and then slips into the hallway.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall found out freshman year, about three weeks after the first time. He didn’t say anything at first, instead choosing to research the least harmful way to bring up the subject. The internet had plenty of advice for an awkward parent to child conversation, but Squall found himself gravitating to safety precautions rather than therapy. He started packing disinfectant and bandages in his backpack every day, swiped from Raine’s private medicine cabinet. After three days of spying red spots on Cloud’s clothes and staying up worrying about infections, Squall convinced Cloud to let him clean and bandage things up.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He follows Cloud into the bathroom, slipping the ‘Closed for Cleaning’ tag onto the front of the door before locking it. Cloud drops his backpack below the sink and slams the stall door before turning around and sitting down on the floor, holding it closed with his back. Squall sets his backpack down in front of the divider and sits down as Cloud curls his knees to his chest and just breathes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After ten minutes Squall hears his phone buzz five times. The service in the bathrooms isn’t the greatest, meaning he has a backlog of texts.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SELPHIE 8:49 where are you? Ansem is gonna lock you out again.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SELPHIE 8:51 pfff i’ll take notes for you. Everything okay?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SELPHIE 8:53 least you could do is answer -_-</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SELPHIE 8:55 fine then have fun making out or whatever</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 8:56 I hate this.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall shifts to sit directly behind Cloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SQUALL 8:57 i know</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 8:57 Why can’t things just work out</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 8:58 And why does it have to hurt so bad</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 8:58 Am i doing something wrong?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall slides his hand behind him and underneath the door. Cloud takes it.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 9:02 I’m tired</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall pauses a second seeing images of stitches and sutures in his memory.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SQUALL 9:03 are you still bleeding</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Cloud let’s go of his hand, shuffles a bit, and then grabs it again.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 9:04 No?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SQUALL 9:04 come out then?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 9:05 Can’t. some hero is blocking the door.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall squeezes Cloud’s hand before letting go and standing up; he grabs his backpack and starts pulling out the first aid kit and organizing things on the bathroom counter. His phone buzzes twice behind him.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 9:08 Are you mad?</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>SELPHIE 9:09 i’m pretty sure half of this stuff never happened.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>He considers replying but instead slides his phone into his pocket. “No,” he says, keeping his voice soft, “but I’m worried.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cloud audibly sighs, scooting away from the stall door. “Just about infections, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall bites his lip. “Right.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Nothing else?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He doesn’t say anything for a minute. He wonders about Cloud’s foster parents. He wonders where his social worker disappeared to. He wonders what kind of people would hurt a teenage boy so bad he has a bruise on his neck </span>
  <em>
    <span>without</span>
  </em>
  <span> fingerprints.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His phone buzzes.</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>CLOUD 9:12 Is this absolutely necessary</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you trust me?” he says.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Everything is quiet for a minute until the stall door opens, and Cloud creeps out. He walks over to the counter and perches himself on top of it, wincing slightly. He rolls up his left sleeve while Squall washes his hands, focusing on the lather rather than the task before him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he’s finished, Squall turns to Cloud and looks into his eyes. “You never answered me.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cloud leans forward and presses his forehead against Squall’s.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall looks down and-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It’s not so bad.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall reaches for the disinfecting wipes first, using his left hand to steady Cloud’s wrist while cleaning with his right. He can feel Cloud’s stare waver, and then, out of the corner of his eye, he sees Cloud tilt his head up and look around the room.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall finishes up with the wipes while Cloud describes yesterday’s events. He squeezes some antibacterial ointment onto the dressing before laying it down on Cloud’s arm; Cloud bruises like a peach so when his foster dad threw a shoe at his head and missed it slammed into his neck; there was nothing he could do but ice it and pray. Squall carefully wraps Cloud’s forearm with linen bandages, a few months of practice helping him get a rhythm pretty quick; the scratch above Cloud’s eye was from landing on his ankle wrong and falling into some books. Apparently, the bruise on his ankle is a few days old.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Squall secures the edges with tape and looks up at Cloud.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Talk to me?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>His phone buzzes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Cloud doesn’t answer.</span>
</p>
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